The Audi R8 GT is “Sports Car of the Year 2011” in the category “Production Supercars.” 2011 marks the 10th time that a jury from the Auto Bild SportsCars trade journal has awarded the prize, which was presented this evening at the Essen Motor Show.

Stephan Reil, Head of Development at quattro GmbH, accepted the award, one of the most coveted in the German automotive industry, for the Audi R8 GT before some 450 invited guests. 70,976 readers of the magazine took part in this year’s anniversary voting for “Sports Car of the Year 2011.”

The Audi subsidiary, quattro GmbH is responsible for the development and production of the Audi high-performance sports car. Its 5.2-liter V10 engine produces 412 kW (560 hp), making it a driving machine with excellent longitudinal dynamics and lateral acceleration as well as lightning-fast, virtually instantaneous reactions. The engineers have reduced the weight of the Audi R8 GT by another 100 kg (220.46 lb) compared with the R8 5.2 FSI quattro. The car accelerates from zero to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) in 3.6 seconds and reaches a top speed of 320 km/h (198.84 mph). Its average ECE fuel consumption is just 13.9 liters per 100 km (16.92 US mpg).

173 cars that had previously proven their worth in more than 300 tests and road reports were nominated in 17 classes, which were further broken down into Production, Tuning and Limited Production. Besides the winner, five other Audi models were placed in the top three of their respective classes: the Q7 V12 TDI in the category “Production SUV,” the RS 3 Sportback in the category “Production Compact Cars,” the RS 5 in “Production Coupés,” the Audi A6 Avant 3.0 TFSI quattro in “Production Station Wagons” and the R8 GT Spyder in the category “Production Convertibles.”